Japantown

In this fresh and engaging thriller, an American antique dealer-turned-reluctant-private eye must use his knowledge of Japanese culture to unravel a major murder in San Francisco, even as he and his daughter become targets for the same mysterious killer. Jim Brodie, a San Francisco antique dealer with ties to a Tokyo-based private investigation firm, receives a call one night from a friend at the SFPD: an entire family has been senselessly gunned down in the Japantown neighborhood of the bustling city. As an American born and raised in Japan, Brodie has advised the local police in the past, but when he arrives at the crime scene, the near-perfect murder offers only one clue--an unreadable scrap of paper that has devastating personal consequences not only for the victims but for Brodie himself. With his array of Asian contacts and fluency in Japanese, Brodie follows leads gathered from a shadow powerbroker, a renegade Japanese detective, and the elusive tycoon at the center of the Japantown murders along a trail that takes him from the crime scene in California to terrorized citizens and informants in Japan. Step by step, he unravels a web of intrigue stretching back centuries and unearths a deadly secret that threatens not only his life but also those of his entire circle of family and friends. Drawing on a wealth of insider information on Japanese culture, "Japantown" offers a riveting read and a terrific new series character in Jim Brodie.